Bumblebeetle
|image = |name = Bumblebeetle |kingdom = Animalia |phylum = Arthropoda |class = Insecta |order = Coleoptera}} The '''bumblebeetle' is a large species of neotonic beetle native to the Rainshadow Desert of Pangaea II in 200 million AD. The larvae of the bumblebeetle, which do all of the eating and mating, are called grimworms. Most of a bumblebeetles life is spent as a grimworm, and their only purpose as an adult or imago is to find a flishwreck in which to deposit the next generation of grimworms. Biology The bumblebeetle is a flying beetle about the size of a Human era sparrow. It has a teardrop-shaped body, a body plan which causes little air resistance. The mature bumblebeetle has no mouthparts, and only a very rudimentary digestive system: it's body consists mainly of wing muscles, a fat supply, and its offspring. It has membranous hind wings to drive in onwards, and hard forewings (or elytra), which are spread out to create an aerodynamic surface. These natural airfoils provide the bumblebeetle with lift, and, from time to time, allow it to rest by "cutting off" its power and gliding. This allows the bumblebeetle to conserve energy and cover great distances without tiring. The stiff forewings of the bumblebeetle also have a second function, acting as supports for sophisticated sensory apparatus. The bumblebeetle's forelegs, held alongside the leading edge of the forewings, are coated with scent receptors (which are usually folded down during flight to reduce dra), and sensors dangle from its tail and antennae: almost every available surface of the bumblebeetle is covered in sensing setae. This array of sensors allows the bumblebeetle to detect rotting flesh from several miles away, increasing its chances of finding a flishwreck in the large Rainshadow Desert. Some 40 percent of the bumblebeetle's body consists of fat reserves which were built up as a grimworm. These reserves can fuel up to 24 hours of continuous, nonstop flight, allowing a bumblebeetle to cover about 500 miles in one day. If the fat reserves run out completely, the bumblebeetle will begin to digest the larvae carried inside its abdomen. Lifecycle Grimworms are deposited by adult bumblebeetles in flishwrecks, the carcasses of ocean flish, which the grimworms feed on until they are ready to mature. Bumblebeetles reproduce in this larval grimworm form, as the entirety of their adult lives are spent searching for a flish to deposit their young in. s being deposited into a flishwreck by a bumblebeetle.]] The grimworms will eventually devour every part of a flishwreck except for the skin, which dries and shrivels in the sun, providing shelter from the heat for the grimworms. They initially reproduce via parthenogenesis, multiplying and turning the flishwreck into a writhing mass of grimworms, until one of the females reaches her optimum weight of around half an ounce (10 or 15 grams). This female will begin to devour her smaller siblings, at which point the male grimworms will leave to find another flishwreck and mate with a fully-grown female. The male is then eaten, and the female digs a hole in which she pupates into a bumblebeetle, then leaves to lay her eggs in another flishwreck. At some point during the 24 hours of a bumblebeetle's life, it is likely to detect a flishwreck with its array of sensors. However, only one bumblebeetle can occupy any one flish, so if two beetles try to claim the same carcass, they will fight fiercly. These fights are rarely fatal, but the loser will relinquish the prize and have to seek out another flish. Once a bumblebeetle has claimed a flish, its life is over. Its abdomen collapses, releasing its grimworms onto the flish, which they burrow into, starting the cycle again. Even if the bumblebeetle wanted to extend its life by feeding on the flish, it would not be able to: the adult bumblebeetle has no mouthparts, and only the most rudimentary of digestive systems. After a few hours of life, a bumblebeetle's fat supply will run low, and it will begin to digest the larvae which it carries inside its abdomen. Eventually all the larvae will be digested if they are not deposited, and the bumblebeetle itself will die without fulfilling its purpose and finding a home for its young. Ecology Bumblebeetles are entirely reliant on marine animals such as ocean flish, which are flung over the Pangaea II coastal mountain range and into the Rainshadow Desert by extremely powerful hypercanes. The maritime dropped by hypercanes, which include flish and silverswimmers, represent the bumblebeetle's (or rather the grimworm's) only source of food. They do not seem to use the bodies of dead desert hoppers as nests. Bumblebeetles themselves can play in important part in the reproduction, or seed dispersal, of deathbottle plants. This carnivorous plant has a leafy flower with the general shape and silvery sheen of a dead ocean flish, and is capable of recreating the odour of rotting flesh with special enzymes in its flowers. Any passing bumblebeetle will land on this flower to deposit grimworms, only to find itself suddenly covered in sticky seeds. When it is sufficiently covered, a spring mechanism will catapult the bumblebeetle off the flower, allowing it go on with its search for a flishwreck. As it flies around the desert or fights with other bumblebeetles, the deathbottle's heavy seeds will fall from its body and land in the sand, where they will grow into new deathbottles if the conditions are right. Appearances In the documentary "Graveyard Desert" follows a bumblebeetle as she tries to find a flishwreck to deposit her maggots in. Eventually she does manage to find a flish, fights off another bumblebeetle trying to give birth in it, and deposits her larvae, then dies. In the manga In "Rainshadow Desert," a bumblebeetle deposits grimworms in a flishwreck immediately after a hypercane passes. A sandstorm weathers and blows away the flish, but the dominant grimworm has already burrowed into the ground below the flish, where she pupates into a bumblebeetle. Another hypercane occurs the next day, allowing this bumblebeetle to easily find a flishwreck. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x12. Graveyard Desert **''The Future Is Wild'' (US) *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild'' (fulldome show) *''The Future Is Wild'' manga **07. Rainshadow Desert *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Notes *In "Graveyard Desert" and The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future, it is stated and shown that, as part of its seed dispersal strategy, the deathbottle plant disguises itself as a flishwreck and lures a bumblebeetle to crawl inside its flower. However, when a bumblebeetle finds a genuine flishwreck, she does not crawl inside it - she simply falls apart and dies on top of it. Gallery |-|Documentary= FIW_1x12_Bumblebeetle.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle on flishwreck.png FIW 1x12 Grimworm in flishwreck.png FIW 1x12 Grimworm jaws.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle flying.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle on flower.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle coated in seeds.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle approaching flishwreck.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle on flish.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle depositing grimworms.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle dies.png |-|Promotional= Bumblebeetle-600px.jpg Grimworms-600px.jpg Bumblebeetle banner.png Grimworm banner.png 200mio_rainshadow_desert.jpg In other languages Navigation Category:Animals Category:Invertebrates Category:Insects Category:Organisms of 200 million AD Category:Organisms of Pangaea II Category:Organisms of the Rainshadow Desert Category:200 million AD